Thursday, 13 July 2017

Small Great Things

When a newborn baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, there is no doubt about who will be held responsible: the nurse who had been banned from looking after him by his father.

What the nurse, her lawyer and the father of the child cannot know is how this death will irrevocably change all of their lives, in ways both expected and not.

Despite that fact that we have had abolition laws passed in both the UK and the US, I think it is safe to say that there are still some states where the colour of your skin is still an issue and in Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult brings this to the forefront of her storyline.

Ruth Jefferson is a maternity nurse in a Conneticut hospital and has a pretty much unblemished record, that is until she delivers and cares for baby Bauer. Both parents are white supremacist and tell Ruth that they don't want her handling their baby boy. Ruth is removed from his care, and later, whilst she is in the same room as him, the baby dies - is Ruth somehow responsible for his death? His father, Turk, seriously seems to think so.

Picoult then takes us through the impending court case as we see Ruth try to defend her career and race, whilst Turk sets out to ruin her in every way he possibly can. The white supremacist movement still has many members and it is a shocking thought that the issues Picoult raises here are so truly valid today. As with all of her books, there is a twist coming at the end, but can you guess what it wil be?